


The days of being together

by Get_below_my_line_of_vision



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-05 12:17:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16367642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Get_below_my_line_of_vision/pseuds/Get_below_my_line_of_vision
Summary: Out of order storytelling of Enjolras and Grantaire falling in love with each other.Chapters= days





	1. Day 1- Enjolras meets Grantaire

It has been months ever since the club was first formed, and women and men still rushed into the Café Musain, all introducing themselves to Enjolras only to be rejected by his lack of interests in them. This process was repeated painfully again and again, and evidently by their small size in the group, no one stayed after being rejected.  
The normal routine of that selection of people is that they watch him, their eyes peeled, but their ears evidently shut. They always stare at him in awe, their eyes glistening, and their mouths parting. Enjolras hated that look. Why couldn’t the love politics instead? Why don’t they follow his words, not his looks?

There were many people who joined Les Amis without being entranced by his beauty. The most influential members were were Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Joly, Bossuet, Feuilly, Bahorel, and Jehan. 

However Bahorel committed the most useless action in the day Enjolras will never forget: he introduced Grantaire. According to him, the man had also heard about the beautiful story of the unnamed leader and decided to see for himself. Of course, Bahorel assured him that he wouldn’t just let a random stranger join the Les Amis if he didn’t have potential. Thus, to test Grantaire’s political stance, Bahorel praised Napoleon (as Bahorel was explaining this situation, Enjolras flinched)., in which Grantaire responded by cracking a beer bottle open from God-knows-where, and started ranting almost as much as Enjolras did everyday. In love with Grantaire’s passion, Bahorel then decided Grantaire would be a permanent member. Enjolras also flinched when Bahorel explained this to him.

Soon enough, after Enjolras had finished his speech, chatters and discussions arose. Some people walked confidently towards Enjolras to win him over. After long hard failure of a time, they gave up, understanding Enjolras was unreachable.  
Then, at the heat of the moment, before the men and women left, Enjolras called out to them, “Who’s Grantaire?”  
No one knew who they were talking about, and shrugged. At that moment, Enjolras was incredibly confused. He thought Grantaire had come to flirt, not to learn. That was what he heard for Bahorel anyway. Instead, he waved the group off with the repeated line of, “Don’t ever come back again.” He stood there for a second in silence before adding, “And possibly tell your friends that too.”

A sigh was released from Enjolras mouth. a sigh of relief. He didn’t want this so-called Grantaire--  
“Nice to know you wanted to see me,” A voice rose close behind him.  
“Who are you?”  
The man cocked his head sideways, confused, “Grantaire. The name you just called out.”  
Enjolras was speechless with embarrassment. While Grantaire instead opened his mouth to start speaking. Heat rose up to Enjolras’ cheeks as he focused on Grantaire’s widening smirk, with his red lips forming patterns as he spoke, along with his ink-black eyes, and his wild curly hair. For some reason, Enjolras was at loss for words.


	2. Day 15- Grantaire orders coffee for the first time in the Café musain

Enjolras and Grantaire’s discussions for politics lived for a couple of hours before finally evaporating elsewhere. It usually was Enjolras and Combeferre chatting with each other before Combeferre inevitably had to head back home. However, with Grantaire, he claimed he had no home, so he could complain about whatever he wanted until Enjolras decided he should go home. This was a change of course, so Enjolras only kept him until ten in the night. His way of being polite.   
But as the days passed, Grantaire even went to the point of holding Enjolras’ for a second just to look into his eyes and ask if they wanted to “argue” more. Usually Enjolras thought of himself as a polite man who could understand people’s mistakes. Although, this case was different. Then on from that day, Enjolras ranted about Grantaire’s choice of words. That, more than anything, it was a “debate” or a “heated discussion” than a debate.

After a while, the two’s voices needed a rest. Therefore, Grantaire decided to order a coffee.  
“It’s late,” Enjolras croaked.  
“But the café isn’t closed.”  
Enjolras nodded.  
“Can I have..a...” Awkwardly, Grantaire looked at Enjolras with his puppy dog eyes (they weren’t really, it were his normal eyes, Enjolras just perceived them differently to everybody else).  
“An expresso,” Enjolras guessed that was the reason why Grantaire stared at him. Definitely not because his beauty. Still, Enjolras couldn’t believe it. He entered the Les Amis, and stayed, realising he would never be with him.  
“And I’ll have a mocha.” Grantaire grinned, showing almost all his teeth, They weren’t as white as they could have been. Enjolras took surprisingly a lot of notes on Grantaire. One of which was that he drank a lot.  
“Mocha?” Enjolras held down a laugh.  
“I like things sweet.” Grantaire chuckled lowly.  
Then the ever so common silence revisited them. 

Unlike Grantaire, Enjolras loved silence unless the topic was about politics. This feeling was definitely not requited for Grantaire as he seemed to hate silence.  
“Um,” Grantaire rubbed the back of his neck, “How come you have such a fascination in... politics?”  
For a moment Enjolras truly believed he was going to burst out laughing, but instead he only smiled, “Since politics rule our lives. We cannot exist without it, and it cannot survive without us.”  
Grantaire’s fingers lightly tapped on the table, “I would like to say that’s poetic,” then he started to laugh softly, “But I can’t take you seriously.”  
“Why?” Enjolras glared.  
“Since politics, of any form, is impossible to execute perfectly in real life. THere’s just way too many anomalies. Let’s be real, we can survive without politics, no? We have been for a long time, we are just taught that that’s the way to go.”  
“Are you suggesting... to go back to the Stone Age?” Enjolras was never sarcastic: he was generally confused by his statement.  
“No... I’m just pessimistic.”  
“Then you’ll never get anything done.”  
“I know. I fully embrace that fact.”  
That was when Enjolras knew he would never form a proper friendship with the man. He was too different from him.


	3. Day 10- First alone discussion

Before Combeferre left (last one to go except for Enjolras and Grantaire), he whispered an advice, “Play nice.”  
Most definitely, Enjolras did not understand what he meant by this.

Alas, the two were alone for the fist time. Enjolras felt nervous, while Grantaire drew out a beer bottle probably as his line of defense. “Alcohol is bad for you,” was all Enjolras could think about saying.  
“If I had a nickel every time someone said that to me, I would be as rich as y...” Grantaire’s voice faded as he watched Enjolras’ expression.   
“Bahorel told you,” Enjolras felt dejected.  
“No, actually,” Grantaire cleared his throat, “Jehan told me. He told me that you were... insanely rich.”  
Enjolras scratched the back of his ear in nervousness. “Do you view me differently?”  
Grantaire breathed in, arranging words in his head. “You would like me to say ‘no’... Unfortunately, I believe someone like you should share money to the poor. Give a portion of the gifts you were granted as a child. Donate.”  
Enjolras nodded lightly. “At least you’re honest.”  
“Say, how come you don’t donate? It won’t affect you. Clearly.”  
Enjolras spoke about how he donates his portion, but much of the money he carried, was of his family, thus could not steal from his relatives. Grantaire argued that family shouldn’t matter to that extent. This caused a cascade of arguments or as Enjolras thought, ‘discussions’.

This type of conversation/ debate lasted for hours before Enjolras suggested Grantaire to head home before it got too dark.  
Grantaire responded by mentioning he really didn’t have a proper home, so it didn’t matter to him when he got ‘home’. Confused (like always), Enjolras did not question if Grantaire was homeless. He thought it would be degrading. So, to find out the other way, he requested to walk him home. Grantaire laughed, and may have possibly blushed (not that Enjolras took notice). He then denied his offer, that “Apollo” should not see a human’s living conditions. Whatever that meant.


	4. Day 3- Grantaire is absent

Grantaire had joined the Les Amis only very recently, and Enjolras was so relieved to see him go. Or more or less go. Enjolras did not know yet whether Grantaire would ever return. He just had not appeared on this day. So far.

Without much explanation, Enjolras was very distracted when giving a speech, his yes searching aimlessly for a familiar face: Grantaire. Where was he? Why didn’t he attend today? How come? Would he ever return?  
At this point, Enjolras was sure that he was relieved, like a great weight had been lifted from his heart. Grantaire was gone. This did not pose as an explanation on why Enjolras felt so empty... It was because of the loss of burden, right? If not, then how could he have become so attached to a man so quickly?

“Hey,” Feuilly whispered, “Are you okay?”  
Enjolras stared at him with the most artificial confused look he could muster.  
“Your speech went something like, “I, um, thank you, for, um, where... never mind, the point is...”. What’s wrong. You’re hardly ever distracted. I mean, you weren’t distracted before that speech either...”  
Enjolras’ eyes lit up. That was true... When he was individually talking to someone else, he wasn’t massively puzzled on why Grantaire wasn’t with him. By that, he meant the café. “I,” he spoke at last with a definite conclusion, “Don’t know.”


	5. Day 25- Marius joins

Courfeyrac entered the Musain laughing with a new possible member of Les Amis. Enjolras carefully observed the new man. He was tall, with baggy clothes, a slightly long face, but overall had a charming look. Also his face was full of freckles. Enjolras couldn’t place that information in the positives or negatives.  
Looks weren’t supposed to be his main concern, nor a minor one of that. All that mattered was his political stance, and since Courfeyrac brought him in, he must have been very interesting.  
“Do you like him?” Grantaire’s voice suddenly popped out of nowhere that Enjolras generally thought his voice was a fragment of his imagination.  
“No,” Enjolras turned to face Grantaire, “I would never give into...” Enjolras unknowingly eyes Grantaire up and down, “Romance.”  
He laughed in response, “You say it like it’s a bad thing.”  
“It’s--... a distraction.” Enjolras spoke through his clenched jaw. He was not necessarily angry, he just felt so conscious on the topic with Grantaire around... somehow.  
“Have you, uh, dated anybody, then?” Grantaire avoided eye contact.

“Enjolras,” Courfeyrac called out. Enjolras noticed Grantaire was glad and relaxed that the question was not answered. The oblivious Enjolras could not understand why Grantaire responded in such way. “This is Marius,” Courfeyrac explained as he pulled Marius towards him while holding the awkward man’s arm. “Say hi,” Courfeyrac beamed.  
“He’s not a baby,” Grantaire laughed as he walked off.  
“Hi,” Marius gave a tiny wave. Enjolras couldn’t help but smile. How did he survive the world so far? He seemed so timid... “I, uh, like--” Marius was caught off-guard by Courfeyrac and literally jumped when he started speaking.  
“He likes Napoleon!” Courfeyrac interjected.

From another side of the room, Combeferre moaned in disappointment, “Courfeyrac, why?”  
“Courfeyrac, why?” Enjolras echoed the words before he knew so.  
“Diversity,” Courfeyrac plainly said, “It adds diversity to the group.”  
“It adds fuel to the group,” Enjolras sighed.

For the rest of the day, Marius and Enjolras argued for hours, while Courfeyrac was very excited to be the neutral one, supporting both.  
Grantaire was about to leave, and took one last glance at the two (excluding Courfeyrac from his vision). For a split second he jokingly thought he should amp up his beliefs to be absolutely opposite to Enjolras’, so he would rather talk to him all night instead of Marius. He then chuckled away that thought.

In the corner of Enjolras’ eyes, he saw Grantaire leave, and was surprisingly saddened by that thought. Then he saw him laugh to himself. Enjolras smiled naturally, to quickly erase it and continued the argument with Marius, with Courfeyrac strangely watching by. Enjolras sincerely hoped Grantaire was mentally okay since randomly laughing to themselves was not a behaviour of a sane person...


	6. Day 45- Courfeyrac is miserable

Courfeyrac was an active contributor to les Amis. Thus when his liveliness and positive interference diluted away, his friends were very alert. They wanted to help him, but for the love of God, they could not figure out what.   
“I think he’s having a period,” Combeferre whispered in Enjolras’ ear.  
“I highly doubt it,” Enjolras thoughtfully spoke.   
“I think it’s because he realised all our beliefs are shit,” Grantaire chuckled.  
“He’s evidently upset about love,” Jean Prouvaire spoke poetically (To be clear, he was a poet; romance was his primary language).  
“I don’t think so,” Joly muttered.  
“Why are we huddled up?” Bossuet spoke loudly, catching the attention of Courfeyrac.  
“Are you guys talking without me again?” He tiredly spoke.  
“‘Again’?” Grantaire slapped his hand on his shoulder, he opened his mouth to speak, but his brain failed to function.  
“Why are you so sad?” Bossuet interrupted the silence between the two.  
Everybody else cursed under their breaths.  
“No apparent reason,” Courfeyrac shrugged and smiled, especially at Combeferre.

When Marius entered the café, he questioned why there seemed to be a split in the group. First of all, there was Courfeyrac hovering as a ghost (frankly scaring Marius), as Combeferre or the occasional Jehan as they bombarded with what resulted him in such extreme emotion. The other group was of Enjolras, Grantaire, Joly, and Bossuet debating passionately about a subject he couldn’t quite make out from afar.

“Marius,” Someone called out for him, it was a woman’s voice, “Long time no see.”  
Her smile was broad, her teeth quite yellow, and she was as pale as he remembered her to be. It was none other than Èponine.  
“Hi, how are you?” Marius coughed out. He couldn’t think for he was so surprised by her appearance. In the nicest way possible, he had not ever expected to see her again. They were friends when they were young, but he had moved city whilst she stayed put.  
“Good, I’ve always wanted to come to this café. I didn’t know you hung out here,” She had bounciness in her voice that no other had. For whatever reason, she was overly enthusiastic about any subject spoken, “How about you everything alright?”  
It took him a second to answer. He didn’t want to be too honest-- maybe comedic? But h had no idea how to be funny. Too late, his mouth was already open. He had to blurt something, anything out, “I’m doing better than my friend,” He gave a quick gesture pointing at Courfeyrac.  
Then the strangest thing: with no hesitation, Èponine nodded and blurted out, “Love problems.” He could tell she wanted to say something more, but he didn’t want to pressure her.

What Èponine hid under her tongue were the words ‘I’ve seen that look multiple times in the mirror’. Ultimately, she was glad she never released this sentence. However she feared she was going to regret this decision.


End file.
